Auditamos Grecia

Greek debt crises: The European Stability Mechanism money started flowing – to creditors, not to Greece 8 September by Bodo Ellmers The Greek bailout saga entered a new round as the first tranches of the …

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New York, 2 September by Zoe Konstantopoulou. Zoe Konstantopoulou’s speech was given during the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament on 2nd September in New York. Sovereign debt is being used against the Greek …

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In order to stay in the Eurozone, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accepted to make almost the same proposals that were rejected during the Greek Bailout Referendum of 25 June 2015. In spite of …

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By Julia, PACD collaborator The Debt Audit gamble is key to understanding the outcome in Greece The media, with their chauvinist and neoliberal stereotypes, have focused almost exclusively on Varoufakis to explain what was happening …

Sovereign debt is being used against the Greek population and the Hellenic Parliament to reduce Democracy. But Democracy is an ultimate value.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Speakers of the world’s Parliaments,

At this occasion of the 70th anniversary of the UN,
Also marking 70 years from the end of World War II,

At this 4th World Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, on placing democracy at the service of peace, sustainable development and building the world that people want, I stand before you and among you, as President of the recently dissolved Hellenic Parliament to address you with a call for solidarity to the Greek people and to Greece: The place where democracy was born and where it is now being bluntly attacked and violated.Continue reading

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Daniel Munevar is a 30-year-old post-Keynesian economist from Bogotá, Colombia. From March to July 2015 he worked as a close aide to former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, advising him on issues of fiscal policy and debt sustainability. He was previously fiscal advisor to the Ministry of Finance of Colombia and special advisor on Foreign Direct Investment for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador. He is considered to be one of the foremost figures in the study of Latin American public debt. Here he talks to Thomas Fazi about the latest bailout deal, explaining why the events of the past few weeks have made him change his mind about Grexit.

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In order to stay in the Eurozone, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accepted to make almost the same proposals that were rejected during the Greek Bailout Referendum of 25 June 2015. In spite of this, these are the comments of the Minister of Finance of Germany, Wolfgang Schäuble, to the proposal of the Greek government. Continue reading

The media, with their chauvinist and neoliberal stereotypes, have focused almost exclusively on Varoufakisto explain what was happening in Greece. It is always easier to build a myth than try to explain the complexities of the situation and this becomes even truer if they make things easy for you and choose a bloke with a reputation for being tough as their Finance Minister. And, despite the subversive situation where, for the first time ever in Europe, we are seeing a Prime Minister and a Minister stand up to the dictates of the troika, this is how the media have managed to create a picture that fits their dominant values. Here is a great man, a leading expert, and he alone will succeed in changing the situation. But should he fail, then there is nothing that anyone can do.

But the situation is obviously much more complex and the stance taken by Tsipras and Varoufakis cannot be explained without acknowledging the level of outcry and mobilization that Greece has seen in recent years as well as Syriza’s own evolution since previous elections. Continue reading

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The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, has called a referendum so that it will be up to the Greek people to decide if the austerity demanded by the Eurogroup is to continue.

Tsipras took this decision after several months of negotiating with a European Union, a European Central Bank and an International Monetary Fund which have, in recent months, rejected time and time again the Greek proposal to reach a compromise that is acceptable to a government that won the elections on a platform to limit austerity.

The Greek parliament has approved the call for a referendum and given the Prime Minister its backing and now Tsipras has turned to the Greek people so that they can decide if continuing austerity, which has been a noose strangling both the population’s welfare and economic growth, is an option they can accept.

The leaders of “democratic” Europe wasted no time in furiously criticising his decision. In a blatant contradiction, across Europe the governing establishment, whether conservative, liberal and “socialist”, spoke in the name of “democracy and responsibility” and launched an attack on Tsipras’s essentially democratic action of appealing to the people.

Europe’s democracy is being played out in Greece. The top bureaucrats at the institutions, with a stubbornness that can only come from clearly seeing themselves as guardians of power and financial capital, are not budging one inch in their demands regarding the tried-and-tested austerity, which has been a social and economic disaster for Greece. As stated in the Preliminary Report by the Greek Debt Truth Committee, set up by the speaker of the Greek parliament, Zoe Konstantopoulou, the austerity policies have had a dramatic impact on investment. Gross capital formation fell by 65% in 2014 compared with 2008 and labour productivity by 7%. The capital capacity utilisation rate dropped from 75.5% in the period between 2006 and 2010 to 67.7% in 2014. Continue reading

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Today, July the 8th Greece has introduced a new proposal for an agreement for its third bailout, in the European Parliament. It would be a 3 years stability bond, that would be used to pay their compromises to all creditors. There are no details, and it does mention neither debt relief nor restructuring.

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The beautiful historic victory of the No shows again that the Greek citizens refuse to accept the creditors’ blackmail. As shown in the preliminary report by the Truth Committee on Public Debt created by the Hellenic parliament, there are several legal arguments that permit a State to unilaterally suspend or repudiate its illegal, odious, and illegitimate debt.

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The referendum of 5th July will stay in history as a unique moment when a small European nation rose up against debt-bondage.

Like all struggles for democratic rights, so too this historic rejection of the Eurogroup’s 25th June ultimatum comes with a large price tag attached. It is, therefore, essential that the great capital bestowed upon our government by the splendid NO vote be invested immediately into a YES to a proper resolution – to an agreement that involves debt restructuring, less austerity, redistribution in favour of the needy, and real reforms. Continue reading

I take note of the outcome of the Greek referendum. This result is very regrettable for the future of Greece. For recovery of the Greek economy, difficult measures and reforms are inevitable. We will now wait for the initiatives of the Greek authorities. The Eurogroup will discuss the state of play on Tuesday 7 July.